Author
Topic: When people misuse words (Read 8246 times)

Disorientated is not a word. I'm also quite weary of everything being "awesome." Ice cream is awesome. That TV show last night was awesome. Getting a "B" on a test is awesome. Look at my awesome new jeans! And isn't my new haircut just awesome?

No. No. No. No. No.

Not everything is awesome. Some things are nice, some things are funny. Some things are good news. Not everything is awesome!!!!

Logged

What have you got? Is it food? Is it for me? I want it whatever it is!

I have a friend who says emancipated instead of emaciated. We're both involved in horse rescue, so unfortunately I hear it a lot. She's a lovely woman, but she takes everything to heart, so I haven't been able to think of a way to correct her without making her upset. It makes me twitch.

It seems to be a regional thing, a lot of people in my area say counseled instead of cancelled. My other half and his father do this. Again with the twitching.

Another that bothers me a ton is "and I," so very many people smugly misuse these words! Sometimes "and me" is actually the correct phrasing! Correcting someone "don't you mean 'and I'?" just makes you sound like a fool when you are wrong!

Mary gave the concert tickets to Chris and me.Chris and I will attend the concert.

(The trick is, drop the other person - would you say "me" or would you say "I"? It doesn't change when you add another person: Mary gave the concert tickets to me./I will attend the concert.)

This is like the misuse of "myself." People think they sound formal and educated when they overuse it. I've been watching Star Trek Next Generation episodes lately. The captain often says things like "Riker, Geordi and myself will head in this direction."

Here's another thing I hear fairly often and when I've asked people why they say it that way, if it's regional to them or if I've somehow missed the memo and it's an ok way to speak, they deny having ever said it.

Instead of saying "That car needs to be washed" they'll say "that car needs washed." Are they saving syllables? Is the verb "to be" so boring that it's not necessary to include?

When someone asks me to 'borrow' a consumable that they obviously have no intention of replacing. 'Can I borrow a tea bag?' Ummm... No. But you can have one. I really don't want it back when you are finished with it.

Logged

After cleaning out my Dad's house, I have this advice: If you haven't used it in a year, throw it out!!!!.

Another that bothers me a ton is "and I," so very many people smugly misuse these words! Sometimes "and me" is actually the correct phrasing! Correcting someone "don't you mean 'and I'?" just makes you sound like a fool when you are wrong!

Mary gave the concert tickets to Chris and me.Chris and I will attend the concert.

(The trick is, drop the other person - would you say "me" or would you say "I"? It doesn't change when you add another person: Mary gave the concert tickets to me./I will attend the concert.)

This is like the misuse of "myself." People think they sound formal and educated when they overuse it. I've been watching Star Trek Next Generation episodes lately. The captain often says things like "Riker, Geordi and myself will head in this direction."

Here's another thing I hear fairly often and when I've asked people why they say it that way, if it's regional to them or if I've somehow missed the memo and it's an ok way to speak, they deny having ever said it.

Instead of saying "That car needs to be washed" they'll say "that car needs washed." Are they saving syllables? Is the verb "to be" so boring that it's not necessary to include?

There are dozens of others, but I can't recall them at this moment. Those two above are the ones that make me foam at the mouth, because she'll tell you that she's SAYING it CORRECTLY, or that everybody says them that way.... I have to bite holes in my tongue and just be deaf to it. She doesn't care that saying things that poorly reflects poorly on her as a well educated woman, who COULD manage your office well, you just can't stand to listen to her! (Horribly run on sentence, but, you know what I mean!). Sadly enough, she has hideous table manners, too.

Sweet woman, great friend, but there's a lot to get past sometimes.

Logged

Newly widowed, fairly cranky, prone to crying at the drop of a hat. Newly a MIL; not yet a Grandma. Keeper of chickens and dispenser of eggs! Owner of Lard Butt Noelle, kitteh extraordinaire!

What's frustrating is that I want to learn to speak more properly instead of unlearning what I used to know. But when you're surrounded by many people who say things like "if I would have saw it, I would have took it" you start questioning yourself.